The truth is everyone at Lincoln Center from the CEO to the legal department to the porters who sweep up the concert halls after each performance are infused with the driving force of the organization.


In her book, Rosenthal sets forth 18


the common legal issues facing nonprofits. “It doesn’t answer all ques- tions but it does give the lay of the land,” she says. “It fills a niche and the fact it comes from a sitting GC adds credibility and practicality. Now it’s in the hands of nonprofit leaders and lawyers. “My mini strategic goal is to get the book into the hands of law students and business schools—all areas that touch upon and feed into the nonprofit world.” Growing up in Roslyn Heights, a


suburban community on New York’s Long Island, Rosenthal harbored both musical and legal ambitions. She practiced the violin diligently, but she says the day she learned that Sandra Day O’Connor had been appointed as the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court was a pivotal day in her youth. She majored in philosophy at Harvard University. When the time came to make career decisions, Rosenthal’s violin teacher said that she could always be a lawyer who played violin on the side but never the other way around. “Right then, my mind was made up,” Rosenthal says. “It was the


DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JULY/AUGUST 2013


best career advice I’d ever received.” And while Rosenthal would have


thrilled audiences as a professional musician, Glenn Lau-Kee, president- elect of the New York State Bar Association, says Rosenthal makes a huge impact as a lawyer. She never misses the big picture, and her heart is always in the right place, he says. Several years ago, Lau-Kee, who


heads a small transactional practice in lower Manhattan, hosted a committee from the National People’s Congress of China looking to redraft nonprofit (NGO in China) laws while in New York. “Lesley made a conference room available in Lincoln Center where a lot of CEOs from major not-for-profits in New York State gathered, giving the Chinese visitors more than they bargained for. Even the assistant attor- ney general in charge of charities was there. Lesley was great. Without her it would have never happened.” Rosenthal also helps to extend


Lincoln Center’s mission of diversity to the legal world. Diversity advocacy, particularly


through her volunteer work with the New York State Bar Association,


is important to her, adds Lau-Kee. Every year since 2006, when she became chair of the New York Bar Association’s 2,600 member Commercial & Federal Litigation Section, Rosenthal has planned and hosted an unfailingly sold-out, annual event entitled Smooth Moves: Career Strategies for Attorneys of Color. And each year, Rosenthal facilitates


the MCCA Diversity Honors Gala—a glamorous, high-spirited, and well- attended event in the center’s famed Alice Tully Hall. Tis year’s event, hosted by Carl Quintanilla, takes place September 17. “When I started at Lincoln Center,”


says Rosenthal, “people half-jokingly asked if there were more prima donnas onstage or off. Te truth is everyone at Lincoln Center from the CEO to the legal department to the porters who sweep up the concert halls after each performance are infused with the driv- ing force of the organization. It’s a great place to be.” D&B


Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.


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